Marxist books on history, literature, etc....

[RadioRaheem84]

Like how in bourgeoisie colleges they have students read "The Classics" which is a eurocentric way of instilling bourgeois values in young students.

Well, are there books written by Marxists that deal with these classics? Any Marxist texts on the history of the world, philosophy and history?

[Caj]

Like how in bourgeoisie colleges they have students read "The Classics" which is a eurocentric way of instilling bourgeois values in young students.

Well, are there books written by Marxists that deal with these classics? Any Marxist texts on the history of the world, philosophy and history?

I'm not sure if I understand exactly what you're asking, but Chris Harman's A People's History of the World is a more or less Marxian account of world history.

[Prof. Oblivion]

I don't really see it as important that a book be written by a self-proclaimed "Marxist" to be good, and to limit yourself to strictly self-proclaimed Marxian authors is absurd. Among the clearest historical works that I have read recently have been by nonmarxists; arguably, they even applied a materialist analysis better than most dogmatic Marxists have.

As for "the classics" what do you mean? Literature? History? If you think that the "bourgeois classics" aren't worth reading then you're sorely mistaken.

[RadioRaheem84]

Well just to be up to speed on the classics of philosophy, literature, etc. so whenever I encounter snobby elitists.

I want to be able to understand things from all angles and I am sure there's been at least one Marxists that's critiqued Plato, English Lit, history, etc.

[RadioRaheem84]

Looking for left wing critiques of establishment literature, history and philosophy. I'm sure it's there

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

I'm just now reading Michael Parenti's History as Mystery which mentions all kinds of bourgeois fallacies. A large part of it is about the crimes of the Catholic Church, the Inquisition, but he makes connections to widely varying subject. . Pretty good stuff. Then i will read his Black Shirts and Reds and A People's History of Rome.

[RadioRaheem84]

I don't really see it as important that a book be written by a self-proclaimed "Marxist" to be good, and to limit yourself to strictly self-proclaimed Marxian authors is absurd. Among the clearest historical works that I have read recently have been by nonmarxists; arguably, they even applied a materialist analysis better than most dogmatic Marxists have.

As for "the classics" what do you mean? Literature? History? If you think that the "bourgeois classics" aren't worth reading then you're sorely mistaken.

I already know the classics pretty well, but the point is to go back and read them from a materialist pov.

[Prof. Oblivion]

I want to be able to understand things from all angles and I am sure there's been at least one Marxists that's critiqued Plato, English Lit, history, etc.

But this is precisely why I am disagreeing with you. Wonderful critiques of these subjects can be found all across the board, and not limited to "Marxists". As for Plato, for example, countless critiques have been written about his theories such as Russell's comments in his History (to which I am unable to link until I make 23 more posts; the relevant sections are on Google Books, though).


I already know the classics pretty well, but the point is to go back and read them from a materialist pov.A materialist POV is not limited to self-proclaimed Marxists. In any work you will find only partial answers. I suggest you expand your reading repertoire.

[Althusser]

Howard Zinn's A People's History of American Empire is pretty good. He's a socialist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People's_History_of_American_Empire

[RadioRaheem84]

But this is precisely why I am disagreeing with you. Wonderful critiques of these subjects can be found all across the board, and not limited to "Marxists". As for Plato, for example, countless critiques have been written about his theories such as Russell's comments in his History (to which I am unable to link until I make 23 more posts; the relevant sections are on Google Books, though).

A materialist POV is not limited to self-proclaimed Marxists. In any work you will find only partial answers. I suggest you expand your reading repertoire.

I get what you're saying but would there not be many interpretations?

Also any general critiques of English Lit/ French Lit, not just the Greco-Roman classics.

Point is, I am not just learning about these subjects, but analyzing them.

[RadioRaheem84]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist_literary_criticism

Marxist literary criticism too.

[Invader Zim]

Looking for left wing critiques of establishment literature, history and philosophy. I'm sure it's there

Well, I don't know whether it 'leftwing', but John Ellis' The Social History of the Machine Gun, is a brilliant book and is fiercely critical of aristocratic modes of thought in the early 20th century.

[Andropov]

"The assassination of Julius Caesar" by Parenti is a brilliant read in this regard.
I can't emphasise how good it is, one of my favourite reads because it essentially shines a whole new light on a topic that has been written on extensively.
It primarily deals with Julius Caesar and how his assassination had little to nothing to do with "protecting democracy" but in reality was because of his limited land reforms which were in conflict with the ruling landed aristocracy which incidentally also happened to comprise the membership of the Senate.
He also touch's on the other Popularii who preceded Julius Caesar who attempted to implement reform and every one of them assassinated by the aristocracy.
Parenti also details why and how the image of Caesar as a tyrant has been nurtured throughout history and details why the image of noble Senators protecting the Republic is really a veneer of respectability for financial self interest.
Brilliant read.

[islandmilitia]

Like how in bourgeoisie colleges they have students read "The Classics" which is a eurocentric way of instilling bourgeois values in young students.

Well, are there books written by Marxists that deal with these classics? Any Marxist texts on the history of the world, philosophy and history?

If you are talking about the "classics" in the sense of the European literary canon, and the relationship between that canon and Eurocentrism, then the obvious texts to read are basically the works of Edward Said, especially Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism. Said did not view himself as a Marxist and is not viewed as such, instead his work is often seen as harshly critical of Marxism, because he argues at some length in Orientalism that Marx's owns writings on India were strongly complicit in the prevailing Orientalist representations of Indian pre-colonial history, and at a more philosophical and theoretical level, he is generally seen as part of the post-structuralist turn which marked the end of Marxism's central influence inside the Western academy. Those divergences from Marxism aside, I don't think there is really anyone who is more important for understanding the relationship between literature and the colonial encounter, and his arguments do have a lot to offer anti-imperialists within the Marxist tradition, especially from the standpoint of self-criticism and evaluation. More generally for the study of literature, Terry Eagleton's Criticism and Ideology is great, because what Eagleton is largely concerned with doing is breaking down the idea of the autonomous text, which Eagleton sees as the foundation of bourgeois literary criticism, in that, for bourgeois criticism, he argues, the text is seen as something that exists at a distance from the actual concrete process of literary production, as well as from the broader structures of bourgeois ideology, such that it can be understood solely through the technique of close reading, directed towards the text itself, and viewing the text as an essentially closed and roused entity. What Marxist literary theory therefore has to do, for Eagleton, is situate the text in its determinate context, especially in its relation with ideology and the mode of production, and to thereby remove it from the reified realm of ahistorical non-ideological culture.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

I am now reading Heart of Darkness which might fit into OPs question.